The wonderful world of listening to the radio

Author: Peter Reuderink (Page 32 of 46)

QSL NDB BJO-316 Bjørnøya

Forty years ago I received a QSL for the non-directional beacon LJS on Bjørnøya or Bear Island. Administratively Bjørnøya is part of Svalbard or Spitsbergen, a territory of Norway. Given its remote location Spitsbergen (including Bear Island) is a separate radio country according to the EDXC list. I somehow assumed that there was no NDB active anymore on the island. But last week I received a beacon BJO on 316 kHz and learned that its location is Bjørnøya.

The maritime radio station Bjørnøya Radio closed in 1996 when – like so many other stations – the station was converted to remote operation from the Kystradio Nord center. But the Bjørnøya Meteorological Station is still staffed, one of the reasons being that a couple of times per day weather balloons have to be launched.

Bjørnøya Meteorological Station (photo: https://bjornoya.org/)

I decided to give it a try, and emailed the Meteo station to find out if they knew about the beacon and could confirm my reception report. Within hours I got a reply from Lisanne… in Dutch! Lisanne is one of two Dutch people in a team of 9 persons that run the Meteo station. They are on duty from June to December when they will be relieved by the next team. Lisanne is trained as meteorologist and it is her 2nd stint on the island.

The team of 9 people on Bjørnøya Meteorological Station. Lisanne in the center, wearing a light blue jacket.

Lisanne wrote that although Bjørnøya Radio is closed, they still transmit a weather bulletin twice a day (10:05 h UTC and 22:05 h UTC) on 1757 kHz. It is preceded by an announcement on 2182 kHz. Lisanne shared this nice Facebook movie about it. But she told me also that they did not send a signal with call sign BJO. There is an amateur radio at the station for visiting amateurs, but that one hadn’t been used either in the past year.

Bjørnøya Meteorological Station (blue H marks their Heliport) and the location of NDB BJO (green dot)

I thanked Lisanne for the nice picture and the reply. And explained to her that the transmitter/antenna I was looking for was probably close to the station and the nearby heliport. A day later another email came in. Over coffee she had raised my question again and with the help of the airports.com site learned that a few kilometers to the east, on the so-called Nordpunktet (North Point) there was an antenna and a little cabin which housed the NDB transmitter. I got a couple of nice photo’s as well.

The fuse cabinet of the Thales NDB transmitter is located in the Meteo Station itself
The little cabin housing NDB transmitter BJO and the antenna

There is a story connected with the little cabin. In 1971 an operator of the Meteo Station named Bjørn Tessem was attacked by a polar bear. He was found near the door of the cabin, with the bear over him. Most likely he attempted to enter the cabin to save himself but the door was locked. There is a small memorial plaque about this event on the wall of the cabin.

Memomarial Plaque for operator Bjørn Tessem who died following a polar bear attack

So you can see how the reception of just three letters BJO in morse code, received over 2500 kms, lead to a surprising conversation, a few nice pictures and a tragic story.

My sincere thanks to Lisanne and the team members at Bjørnøya Meteorological Station, who also gave me permission to publish their photo’s. They have their own website at https://bjornoya.org/ .

QSL VoA Studio 7, Botswana, 6045 kHz

The Voice of America broadcasts under the name Studio 7 to Zimbabwe. The programs in Shona, Ndebele and English are aired from Selebi-Phikwe, Botswana. I sent a reception report to the usual qsl@usagm.gov address, but also wrote to studio7@voanews.com .

Praxedes Jeremiah, senior editor at Studio 7 sent an email reply. The program on 6045 kHz I listened to was in Shona language, but so many English words were used that I could understand which topics were discussed.

QSL VoA Studio 7 from Botswana
QSL for VoA Studio 7 program from Selebi-Phikwe, Botswana

QSL CCR Las Palmas 8414.5 kHz

e QSL Las Palmas Radio
e QSL card from Las Palmas Radio

Coast Guard Radio in Spain is remotely operated from three centers: Coruna, Valencia and Las Palmas. This e-QSL CCR Las Palmas confirms my reception of the latter, operating from the Canary Islands on 8414.5 kHz. It was my 2nd attempt to get a QSL from this station via ccr.laspalmas@cellnextelecom.com , so maybe they reply a little bit irregular.

Unfortunately the e QSL doesn’t show the station name, so I have to save the email that went with it in my files as well:

Email accompanying the e-QSL for Las Palmas Radio

QSL Cyprus Radio 5BA 8414.5 kHz

A real QSL card for Cyprus Radio 5BA on 8414.5 kHz. I heard this coastal station with a DSC message. It is nice that they still award QSL cards by mail. Forty years ago they were also reliable verifiers. I attached an old QSL letter from 1982 for a reception of a broadcast in A1 (Morse code).

QSL Cyprus Radio Nicosia Cyprus
Nice QSL card from Cyprus Radio 5BA, Nicosia, Cyprus
QSL Cyprus Radio 5BA, Nicosia
QSL Cyprus Radio Nicosia 5BA Cyprus
1982 QSL for Cyprus or Nicosia Radio 5BA, Cyprus

QSL NDB BBA-401 Benbecula Airport

There is always something special about receiving a station from an island. I was a huge fan of Dutch writer Boudewijn Buch who had a TV program in which he visited islands, met the people living there, and told stories about these islands. You might compare him with the likes of Paul Theroux. Unfortunately Boudewijn died much too young.

As posted earlier I received a QSL for the Kirkwall NDB on the Orkney Islands. I learned that Kirkwall is one of 11 airports operated by HIAL, Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd. So I asked the kind lady at info@hial.co.uk if she would also consider forwarding my reception report of BBA (Benbecula) and SBH (Sumburgh) to the responsible operators.

David from Benbecula Airport was the first to reply. Thank you David! Another island I can add to my list… but also an island that I want to visit now I have reached the happy age of retirement. It’s high on my bucket list. David also added an overview of the radio navigation aids at Benbecula Airport (see below). Benbecula Airport started in 1936. It was a Royal Airforce Airport during WWII. From here it was home to aircraft carrying out patrols to protect shipping convoys on the Atlantic from German U-boats. After the war it became a civilian airport again, and today their are scheduled flights to Inverness, Glasgow and Stornoway.

QSL United AM, Neede 1008 kHz

Yesterday I was cleaning up my email inbox and to my surprise I found an e-QSL that I forgot I had. Late 2021 I was thinking about what I wanted to do when I retired and I started to explore the radio bands a bit again. I soon found out that a lot had changed. With my JRC ND535 attached to a simple long wire for example, I struggled to hear anything because of high noise levels. So I tried the Twente WebSDR.



But not only the reception conditions had changed, the whole band use had changed as well. For many years 1008 kHz was a key frequency for Dutch national radio broadcasting. Initially from Lopik (only 15 kms from my QTH in Woerden) and later from Flevoland with a powerful 400 kW transmitter. In 2004 national radio left mediumwave, and the frequency went up for auction. Radio 10 – a commercial broadcaster – took over. From 2007 Groot Nieuws Radio, a radiostation with a religious backgrond, used the frequency until New Years Eve 2018.

e-QSL from United Am, Neede on 1008 kHz

Soon after the frequency was made available to LPAM stations. United AM from Neede started broadcasting on this frequency and as they are located close to Twente University and their WebSDR I was able to receive them very well. I decided to give it a try and sent a reception report. I got a nice e-QSL showing the huge antenna setup near a relatively small house.

But after 5 years United AM shut down as well… and like their big brother on New Years Eve. Their QSL is still my first QSL from the new Dutch LPAM scene!

Closing announcement of United AM 1008

QSL NDB BL-421 Borlänge Airport

From 23rd – 25th September I participated in another Coordinated Listening Event. This time the challenge was to try to log a beacon on each frequency between 275 and 425 kHz. So maximum 151 NDBs. In total I logged close to 380 beacons on 127 different frequencies.
Of course I try to get a couple of QSLs in return for this effort and like last time I decided to focus on Sweden (there is no way that I’m going to send out 380 reception reports!). The first QSL came in today from Borlänge Airport. NDB BL-421 is located 1132 km from my home QTH.

QSL NDB BL-421 Borlange Airport, Sweden
QSL NDB BL-421 Borlange Airport, Sweden
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